Southern Home Away from Home

Monday, May 30, 2011

I was perusing the Sea Shepherd's website and came across this article. How utterly disturbing and senseless! Just looking at the pictures nearly had me running to the bathroom in a fit of nausea.

For those of you who have no idea who the Sea Shepherds are, they are an organization dedicated to the conservation of marine wildlife. Ya know the show Whale Wars? Yep, that's them. Never seen the show? Well, my friend, their newest season premiers this Friday at 9:00PM ET. At least in the US. You should check it out.

While there is a lot of criticism against them and their tactics, I think what they are doing is something noble and that it should be supported. They are some of the few people who are actually doing something to save sea creatures around the world. Can you say as much?

There are two people on Whale Wars who I absolutely adore: Pete Bethune and Malcolm Holland. Not only are they both gorgeous (always a plus in my book), but they both are extremely dedicated conservationists.

Pete Bethune was the man who was in the press in 2010 because he boarded a Japanese whaling vessel and was brought back to Japan. After his well publicized falling out with the Sea Shepherd organization, he now is working on building his new ship and is a huge proponent of biofuels. His website has much more information for those of you who are interested: earthrace.net. He also has a book out titled Whale Warrior. I'm putting a copy of this book on my birthday wish list.

Malcolm Holland has been on every season of Whale Wars. I wish I could volunteer that much of my time to a cause. According to his website, he is involved in conservationism, anti-colonialism, and anti-militarism. He is also a wonderful photographer. His website, malcolmholland.com, features absolutely gorgeous photos taken by him.

I was discussing the show with the hubs after watching the South Park spoof and mentioned that I would love to get involved with them somehow. You want to know what I found out? If I were associated with the Sea Shepherd's Garrett could get in trouble with the Air Force because they are considered by some to be eco-terrorists.

Anyone who knows me would know that this only gave me more of an incentive to get involved. Right now, I'm trying to convince Garrett to try to get stationed in Japan. There is the Yokota Air Base in Japan. This base is only a couple hundred miles from Taiji, Japan and I would love love love to get involved in stopping the dolphin slaughter there. (A couple hundred is better than thousands.)

What's this dolphin slaughter I speak of? If you have to ask, I recommend you watch the film The Cove. Its on netflix and you can watch in instantly, so you should watch it right now. This very second. GO!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

I had an interview on Saturday. It was for a sales position in the mall. Not really the type of job I had in mind after college but, hey, money is money.

I thought the interview went well. We laughed, he complimented my resume, approved of my work history, you know, the usual. When I left he said it was between me and two others and he thought I had a good shot. The decision would be made by the beginning of the next week and they would let me know by the middle of the week.

Sunday: Nothing. (Not that I expected to hear anything)Monday: Nothing. (Again, not surprising)Tuesday: Nothing. (Not really all that worried)Wednesday: Nothing. (Huh, isn't this technically the middle of the week?)Thursday: Nothing. (What? It is officially the end of the week.)

So here I am, Thursday night, very frustrated. I was told that they would call no matter what. And they have yet to call. Very sad.

So I continue on my job search. There is a legal secretary position that is right up my alley. Crossing my fingers. Say a few prayers. Hopefully I won't make it six full months on being unemployed.

Tuesday, May 17, 2011

My house is overwhelmed with growls, yips, fur, and butt sniffing. Why, you ask? Because we are puppysitting for two friends of ours who are out of town. And by we, I mean me. Technically Garrett is helping too, but since he works full time and I'm still an unemployed bum, I'm doing most of the work.

Meet Orion:

He is a purebred Husky and a huge pain in my butt. He's an only child and refuses to listen to women. He was in for a huge surprise when he arrived at my house since we all know, I run this house. I'm practically hoarse from yelling so much.

It's not just him I'm yelling at. Betty and Roscoe have been getting into their share of trouble. My two dogs are absolutely in heaven having someone new to play with. The only problem is that they only know how to play two at a time, so someone always gets left out. And that someone is Betty.

Orion and Roscoe will play together for hours and hours and hours, knocking over candles, pictures, soda cans, and occasionally me. Especially when they're outside playing. But we can't go outside anymore because there is a snake in my yard and Garrett isn't home to kill it.

As frustrating as having three dogs terrorizing my house is, I love having him. And am very happy that we are only watching him for a week. This time. We have plans to watch him again for a week in June and then possibly again when our friend has surgery.

One thing that this has made screamingly apparent is I am so not ready to have kids running around my house. Which makes Garrett very very happy.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Let me start off by saying I love my dogs to death. They are my babies, they are my life. I absolutely cannot live without them. With that said, there is one thing in particular that drives me absolutely insane.

Betty loves shoes. Not just any shoes. MY shoes. And only flats. The hubs can leave his shoes all over the house and she won't touch them. If I take my shoes off and leave the room for five minutes, she destroys them. Utterly and absolutely destroys them. You always know when she has a pair, too, because she's hiding in Roscoe's kennel. She seems to think that if I find the shoes in his kennel, I will blame him. But we all know who eats them.

This is her, Mama's little stinker:

She destroyed two cute pairs of ballet flats and I mean completely destroyed. There was nothing left. This is what she did to my funky shoes that I've had since fifth grade. (No, my feet haven't grown since then.)

This is what she did to the $100 pair of Reebok Easytone which was a present from the hubs.

If I had all my shoes in SC, then I wouldn't mind so much. When I lived in MN, I had over 60 pairs of shoes. (All cheap ones). When I moved, I promised the hubs I would get rid of all shoes that I didn't wear often. And I did. By the time I came down South, I had less than 20 pairs of shoes.

So when I found this, I almost cried:

Yes, they are cheap knockoffs, but I loved them. And they were the only pair of flats I had left.

So I decided I was going to fix them and make them somehow wearable again. Until the needle I was using broke. Sadly, I don't have another durable one around the house so the finished product will have to wait.

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

I've always been close with my family. My mom has always been my best friend. I am the world's biggest daddy's girl. My brother's pretty cool, too. I guess. Because I'm so close to them, I never really strayed far from home. I went to college only 30 minutes away from home and went home almost every weekend.

Going from seeing my family all the time to never getting to see them is hard. And this week I have been missing my daddy like crazy.

My all time favorite story about my dad concerns the time his car was "stolen."

My freshman year of college I was working at the college's Computer Help Desk. One day while at work, I got a call from my mom. This was the conversation:

Me: Mom, I'm at work.

Mom: Your dad's car was stolen.

Me: What?!? (Side note: no one in their right mind would steal my dad's car. it's one of those ugly little trackers)

Mom: Yea, someone stole his car from the Walmart parking lot.

Me: *fall into a fit of giggles*

Mom: This is serious. I need you to go pick your dad up.

Me: I'm working.

Mom: So am I. Fine, see if Garrett can do it.

So I called up the hubs, who at that time was the lowly bf. Luckily, he was not working and could pick up my dad, who was not at the local Walmart. Nope, my dad wanted to be adventurous and try the really big Walmart a few towns over.

I went back to work, pondering why the hell someone would steal my dad's crap car. I don't know anything about chop shops or anything like that, but I was pretty sure the parts weren't really worth much. It barely ran.

A half an hour later I get a call from Garrett who is laughing so hysterically, I can't even understand him. He finally gets out that I should call my dad.

So I did. And here is that conversation:

Me: Hey dad, is everything okay?

Dad: It's fine. Everything is fine.

Me: Oh.....I thought your car was stolen.

Dad: About that...

Me: Did the police find it?

Dad: Yes.

Me: Well, where was it?

Dad: ............the other end of the parking lot.

Turns out, this giant Walmart had two entrances, which my dad didn't notice. He is prone to forgetting where he parked so he parked right in front of the entrance he saw. After he finished shopping, he exited and didn't see his car. He searched but couldn't find it and ended up calling the police. Only to have the police find his car in front of the other entrance.

I tell this story every chance I get because A) It's hilarious B) It explains a lot about my ability to lose things and C) I love my Daddy.

Garrett comes home today! YAY! After five days of being stuck home alone with my demon spawn dogs with no car (mine has a flat tire) I cannot wait for the hubs to get here. The very first thing I'm going to do is give him a big hug and kiss. And then I'm hiding in the bedroom with my laptop and leaving him to deal with the dogs.

I had this amazing plan for when he came home to show him what a good wife he has. I was going to put on a cute dress and make-up. I was going to clean the house and then make him an amazing dinner. Wanna guess how much of that is going to happen?

After getting like three hours of sleep, Garrett's lucky I took a shower. There's no make-up, I'm in sweats, and I'm like 90% sure I got Mod Podge stuck in my hair.

The house is a disaster because I decided today was a good day to craft. (I made a really pretty welcome sign out of yarn and card board. I know, sounds cheap right? It looks epically awesome. I would post a pic but my camera committed suicide.)It's going to stay a disaster. In my defense, some of the crafts aren't done and need to dry. On the floor. In the middle of the living room. Don't judge me.

He's still getting dinner, but nothing fancy at all. I looked in the fridge, cupboards, and freezer. There's nothing. I've been eating PB&J all week. Why? Because my car has a flat and I can't go to the commissary. So you wanna know what Garrett is getting for supper?

About Me

I was born and raised in suburban Minnesota. I married my high school sweetheart who happened to be in the Air Force. We have two puppies, Roscoe and Betty Boop and one Ninja kitty named Ricky Bobby. I have been transplanted to South Carolina and am bumbling along day by day.